Each year, the wonderful team at Berman S.p.A. — a specialty supplier of automotive parts and components to OEMs — hosts prominent designers over its two-day Autostyle Design Competition.
As the name implies, the event revolves around a design competition for which 12 budding designers create their own interpretation of an existing vehicle. But Autostyle also features workshops with some of the industry’s leading designers, brings together the works of past editions of the competition and showcases a number of new models, which bathe in the natural northern Italian light.
The 11th edition of Autostyle, set to take place on October 9th and 10th at the Palazzo Te — a renaissance villa built by the painter and architect Giulio Romano — in Mantua, Italy, will once again involve design directors of the world’s most important car manufacturers and the young design talent who will impose their style on vehicles in the coming years.
Visitors will have the opportunity to see models and images describing the design activities within carmakers’ studios, walk through a design gallery exhibition and peruse Berman’s ‘golden book’, featuring the work of the most talented students who took part in Autostyle’s past editions. As a clear demonstration that Autostyle is a breeding ground for emerging design talent, many former award winners are now working in studios all over the world.
The workshops
The two-day event will open with presentations by lead designers who will provide insight on the birth of new models as well as the design philosophy within their respective design studios. The speakers will include Ferrari design director Flavio Manzoni; Roberto Giolito, head of design for Fiat; Lamborghini design director Filippo Perini; Jaguar designer César Pieri; Renault’s Tibor Juhasz and Axel Breun, design director for concept cars; Ford of Europe’s Claudio Messale; and Wolfgang Egger, head of design at Volkswagen subsidiary Italdesign.
The competition
The 12 shortlisted designers will be the leading actors of grand finale. This year they’ve been asked to create special versions of the Peugeot 108, Jeep Renegade, Jaguar F-Type Coupé, Maserati Alfieri concept and Volvo XC Coupé concept. We’re curious to see the results.
Aspiring designers have the opportunity to win the Berman Award for the best proposal in the Urban Cars/Crossover category, the Amams Award for the best proposal in the Sports Car category and the Wacom Award, which will be decided by Autostyle 2014 participants who will vote for their favorite proposal during the event.
The finalists will be awarded by the Evaluation Committee members, consisting of president and Auto&Design magazine founder Fulvio Cinti, Alessandro Maccolini of Alfa Romeo, Audi’s Klemens Rossnagel, Flavio Manzoni, Roberto Giolito, Claudio Messale, Wolfgang Egger, Filippo Perini, Anna Costamagna of Peugeot-Citroën, and Volvo’s interior design director, Robin Page.
The car exhibition
Twenty of 2014’s notable new models will be on display in Palazzo Te’s Esedra garden, including the new Lamborghini Huracán, Ferrari California, Fiat 500X, Jeep Renegade and a number of vehicles created by the design teams at Renault, Toyota, Mercedes, Nissan, BMW, Bentley, Jaguar, Audi, Peugeot and Citroën.
Every year we look forward to attending the event, and this year is no exception. The venue, delectable food and incredible hospitality are reason enough. The resounding atmosphere and inspiring presentations are icing on the cake. We hope you’ll be able to join us.
Click here to see our coverage of the 2013 Autostyle Design Competition
